Data revenue rose 24.2 percent in the third quarter,
compared with 28.7 percent in the second quarter, Moscow-based
MegaFon said today. Its shares fell as much as 3.2 percent. The
company’s third-quarter earnings topped analysts’ estimates.

MegaFon leads in mobile data revenue in Russia, according
to AC&M Consulting, and some rivals are reporting faster growth
as they catch up with it. VimpelCom Ltd, Russia’s third-largest
operator, posted 30 percent data-revenue growth last week.

“MegaFon’s earnings came largely in line with
expectations, which wasn’t enough to impress investors,” said
Konstantin Belov, an analyst at UralSib Capital in Moscow. “The
company’s strong financials have been already priced in, while a
slowdown in data may be perceived as slightly negative.”

Shares of MegaFon fell 2.7 percent to $34.48 at 1:47 p.m.
in London after dropping as low as $34.31. Some investors
probably sold to ensure they would profit from the stock’s gain
of more than 70 percent since the company’s initial public
offering a year ago, Belov said.

MegaFon, controlled by billionaire Alisher Usmanov and
partly owned by Sweden’s TeliaSonera AB, said the portion of
customers subscribing to data services fell to 34.9 percent from
35 percent in the second quarter.